In a recent MUFON article,1 I suggested separating "contact" and "abduction" reports into six separate "groupings" of witnesses. "Group Six" described a class of witnesses who apparently have been successful in warding off so-called "bedroom visitors" by means of various techniques. There are several
cases of this kind in my personal files which suggest the possibility that human beings are not helpless against intrusions by the UFO Phenomenon, and three general techniques for breaking unwanted contact have emerged. In view of a general feeling in the research field that the human race is powerless against abductions by UFO entities, any information which points to the contrary conclusion should be made available to any and all who can accept the possibility and/or confirm it.

The Case of Emily Cronin

One case of this kind concerns Emily Cronin, whose UFO experiences are set forth in the book, TUJUNGA CANYON CONTACTS, which was co-authored by myself and D. Scott Rogo.2 Her encounter with "bedroom visitor" type entities began in 1956, following a UFO encounter on the Ridge Route, a winding mountainous road in Central California, an experience which she shared with Jan Whitley, another of the Tujunga Canyon witnesses.3 Shortly after this experience, the night-time visits began and continued with some regularity for several years.

During the bedroom visitations, Emily was awakened from sleep by a piercing, whining noise.4 This was accompanied by a general feeling of paralysis and the visual sighting of large-headed creatures with huge slanted eyes. She did not see much of these entities except the heads and a suggestion of shoulders. Whether this was due to the fact she seemed forced to stare into the hypnotic eyes of these "visitors" or whether the head and shoulders were, in fact, all that manifested, has not been determined.

Invariably, the entities communicated telepathically with Emily, entreating her to "go with them". To the best of her knowledge, she was always successful in telling them "no" and consequently does not recall being abducted. Emily's technique for warding off the unwanted contact with "bedroom visitor" entities was simply mental effort, directed toward "breaking" the paralysis. Starting with the very first contact, she learned that if she could manage to move even one toe or finger, the paralysis would end. At the same time, the irritating high-pitched tone and the apparitions abruptly disappeared. From her experience at the Ridge Route, she suspected that, in the event that another person is sharing in a "bedroom visitor" experience to the point of also being paralyzed (as Jan was also on the Ridge Route), their paralysis also abruptly ends.

In regard to paralytic/creature episodes in general, some natural occurrences recognized by psychology might possibly explain some reports of the "bedroom visitor" type. There is a phenomenon which affects some people, and which occurs in certain sleep stages, called catalepsy, during which vivid mental imagery is experienced. Then there is a more common type of sleep paralysis in which some of the normal stages leading to REM (dream state) are somehow bypassed, resulting in persons feeling paralyzed without being really deeply asleep. As a consequence, they can be consciously aware of feeling paralyzed. This is often accompanied by hypnogogic-like imagery. Hypnogogic images are flashing visual effects; usually they are images of faces and disembodied heads passing rapidly one after another before the mind's eye. They are never accompanied by sounds or speech. In another common sleep disorder, the large muscles relax but the peripheral muscles of the feet and hands become active and may twitch. In other words, the body is asleep before consciousness is lost; in this stage, hypnogogic imagery is common.

Emily has reported experiences with some form of sleep paralysis. She states that she often travels astrally during sleep, and can always tell when an out-of-body experience has occurred. On those occasions she wakes up very gradually, as her astral form merges again with the physical form. Some paralysis of her body occurs while the awakening process is going on at the end of an OBE.

Her other episodes of sleep paralysis were always entirely different from the episodes with the "faces", however. The other times she has felt "paralyzed", she did not hear the high-pitched sound or see the "entities". Since hypnogogic (and hypnopompic) imagery involves perception of flashing, momentary images and generally does not have sound/speech associated with it, it seems probable that sleep states which involve paralysis and visual images are apart and separate from the "bedroom visitor" type of UFO encounter.

In regard to the technique Emily developed to ward off the insistent
visitors with their huge, slanted eyes, it is important to stress
here that she has a strong sense of herself as a Person with rights.
She felt at the time of the episodes that she had the right to
say "yes" or "no" to their demands. It was
apparently the confidence that enabled her to say "no"
in spite of the entities' repeated, forceful entreaties to "go
with them".

Emily has never felt that the bedroom visitors were inimical in
any way, but were merely other types of intelligent life ...
extraterrestrial, intradimensional or otherwise, she did not know.
She feels that motive in contacting human beings was simple curiosity,
and in spite of her initial fright, accepts them as part of the
Unity of Life.

The Case of Lori Briggs

The second case of a witness who apparently was able to ward off
unwanted contact by UFO beings is Lori Briggs, whose 1975 experience
is also described in TUJUNGA CANYON CONTACTS.5 This witness, who consciously retained some memories (the rest being hypnotically
recalled) was reportedly contacted by small, large-headed entities
in her bedroom, wrapped in light, and transported through her
apartment wall to an apparent "craft", where she
was examined by means of an X-ray type apparatus which involved
"slabs" and beams of light. When the creatures asked
Lori to "go with them" (for breeding purposes, she felt)
she decided she did not want to do so. She broke contact with
the creatures by "making her own sound" silently within
herself, and successfully found herself transported back to her
bed.

Lori states that she has always been able to "make her own
sound" instinctively, from early childhood. The sound is
not a mantra or any type of learned meditative technique.
At the time of her encounter, she had not studied metaphysics
or any meditative techniques and still doesn't know too much
about the subject. In fact, she was not amenable to being termed
"metaphysical" until the term as "being aware of
the unity of Being, the term "Being" including a "Creator",
was shared with her. Lori agreed with these tenets.

She describes "her own sound" basically as a tone, somewhat
similar to a musical note, which reverberates in the upper part
of her body - in the head, shoulders and chest. It is similar
to a vibration but also is a real sound heard inside her head.
She uses it to relax or in times of stress when she is called
upon to solve particular problems.

Emily Cronin, my first-mentioned contactee, is also familiar with
the concept of a person's "own sound", Describing it
as originating in a person's back, in a broad band just below
the shoulder region. She advises that concentrating on this area
will produce a person's own sound, but that, for most persons,
mastering the techniques takes considerable practice. Emily also
suggests that a person can "draw the sound up" through
the head and out via the crown chakra.

The question here, as in all "abductee cases", is whether
the creatures perceived were intelligent entities separate from
the witnesses' own mind. In my considered opinion, it is reasonable
to assume, at least in the most convincing cases, that they were.
The creatures might have realised that they were dealing with
a witness who was "centered", who knew herself as a
Person with inviolable rights, and was confident in her Self.
In Lori's case, this attitude and self-confidence prevented her
from experiencing lasting trauma and negative emotions, as far
as her "abductions" was concerned.

The Case of Melissa MacLeod

Another technique, besides the "internal sound" and
"mental struggle" methods employed by Lori and Emily,
was used by Melissa MacLeod, another UFO witness from Southland,
Texas, with whom I had worked for several years. Melissa is a
professional woman of middle years; I can vouch for her honesty
and rationality. Beginning in 1977, she experienced repeated episodes
during which invisible forms of considerable weight (estimated
at 50 to 60 pounds or more) would "sit" on the side
or the foot of her bed, jostling it or poking her repeatedly until
she awakened fully. Her husband never experienced anything out
of the ordinary, and always believed she was dreaming or "imagining".

Eventually, Melissa lost her fear of the phenomena; although they
occurred, on the average, once or twice each month, they never
seemed harmful to her well-being. At times they were accompanied
by vivid dreams relating to her career, and being a dabbler in
dream interpretation, she wondered if the "presences"
were alerting her to pay attention to particular dreams.

Beginning in the early eighties, however, these episodes began
to be accompanied by a type of paralysis. She would awaken to
find herself unable to move; the first few times , by instinct,
she mentally struggled against the paralysis, willing herself
to break it. She found that with sustained struggle, she could
eventually succeed in moving some small portion of her body, and
the paralysis and invisible presences which accompanied it would
disappear. Melissa invariably experienced absolute terror during
the struggles; she felt bitter aversion at being besieged by an
unknown agent. None of these experiences left Melissa with any
conscious memory of "contact" or any hint of UFO abduction.
She does have a prior history of a "time lapse" or "amnesic
period" following a 1953 experience in which she heard an
unexplained, high-pitched whirring sound that reverberated through
the Los Angeles apartment she and her husband occupied as newlyweds.
At the time she was about three months pregnant.

When the invisible presences began to disturb her years later,
she did not at first relate to the 1953 experience. However, in
the mid-1980s, early one morning, she awoke paralyzed and saw
a dark, indistinct human-sized figure standing near her on the
left side of the bed. Although this image was possibly hypnopompic
(post-sleep) in nature, the experience caused stark terror. Although
this was the only time a visible form accompanied the paralyzing
episodes, the experience prompted Melissa to develop another technique
for warding them off. Being a Christian, during the next episode
she prayed inwardly to Christ, beseeching Him for help, and found
that the paralysis ended somewhat more quickly.

The last two episodes occurred in 1986 and 1987, and by this time,
she had begun to beseech the Archangel Michael directly, having
a special devotion to this spiritual personage noted as a warrior
against dark spirits. She found that prayers directed to St. Michael
broke the paralysis even more quickly. Having found what was to
her a reliable way of breaking the episodes, she no longer
fears future occurrences. Perhaps significantly, she has not had
any recurrences for over a year. Is Melissa's faith in the protection
of the Archangel Michael the equivalent of Emily and Lori's confidence
in themselves as "Persons with rights"? All three techniques
are not associated with orthodox religion.

The Case of Jan Whitley

Another technique for warding off strange phenomena was described
in a letter written by Jan Whitley, another of the Tujunga Canyon
witnesses. Jan, by 1981, had begun to realize that certain persons
had the ability to say "no" to unwanted contacts. She
referred to a documentary shown on NBC about the Bermuda Triangle,
which dramatized a case of a boatload of people confronted by
a dread phenomenon. As Jan wrote in her typical succinct but powerful
style, "A man on boat saying "No-no-no. And no it was
- he of course was a survivor, not a victim - or should I say
not removed from his environment."6 Apparently, intense verbal thwarting of these entities, will accomplish the same result as
mental struggle, certain meditative techniques, and fervent prayer.

A Case in Texas

Another Southland, Texas, case involves a woman in her thirties,
who reports repeated bedroom episodes at an earlier period in
her life. They invariably began with an irritating, piercing noise,
followed by the feeling of being clutched by invisible "hands".
She reported success in fending off contact by "biting through"
one of the hands on one occasion. It is the opinion of this woman,
who is a thoroughly rational and realistic individual, that members
of the human race have an equal right to resist intrusion by other-worldly
entities. During this period in her life, she used other techniques
as well, such as repeating the Lord's Prayer fervently and, at
times, merely "waiting out" the piercing noise, etc.
knowing that sustained resistance to it would eventually bring
about its cessation.

Abductee Support-Groups

At this writing, an abductee support-group has been formed in
the Los Angeles area, and protocol has been established for the
gathering of medical and psychological data on abductees. Basic
support techniques are being used in a group setting for the benefit
of traumatized witnesses, assisting their return to normal, productive
living. There is great interest by both researchers and abductees
- especially those who report ongoing interventions by unknown
entities - in trying out various techniques, as outlined above,
to fend off these contacts. Preliminary work toward this end is
now in progress.

Some in the UFO research field - especially those persons who
regard UFO entities as extraterrestrial visitors, may disagree
with efforts to teach traumatized witnesses to fend off contact.
Why prevent contact, including abductions, they might ask, if
the main motives of the visitors are for the eventual good of
the human race, possibll continued evolution of the human race?

It is my opinion, which other researchers share, that the "UFO
Phenomenon" is a mixed-bag, some sightings being possibly
of extraterrestrial beings/craft, while others are from intradimensional
sources or "parallel universes". The traditions and
teachings of all great religions, as well as the folklore of every
continent and culture, tell of entities, both benevolent and malevolent,
from other planes of existence. If some of these reported forms
of life exist, they apparently can interact with our physical
world and communicate on various levels with human beings. The
non-benevolent types with which folklore abounds7,8 are practically indistinguishable, in their essential natures, from "bedroom visitor" entities.9 The trappings with which they surround
themselves, such as clothing, means of transport, etc., differ
accordingly to the culture and time period in which they are reported,
and it is logical to assume that intradimensional creatures who
have the means of entering our space/time would also have the
power to surround themselves with modern, spectacular trappings,
such as "space craft".

Folly of Theory that Entities are "harmless"

For those in the UFO field who say that "abduction"
by UFO entities may traumatize witnesses but does not cause permanent
harm, I would question their assessment of the "abduction
scenario". Many persons are, it is true, able to incorporate
these experiences into their view of reality and proceed with
productive living. Most of these latter persons are metaphysically-minded
and regard the visitations as intriguing evidence of other types
of Life other than human.

But the majority of believable "abduction" reports and
case of timelapse/potential "abduction" are from responsible,
yet emotionally-damaged individuals. The damage ranges from slight/repairable
to deep/irreparable. Some mechanism from an unknown source is
profoundly affecting large numbers of our population. The human
race, by reasons of its very nature, has its own integrity, which
includes the right to be free of unwanted intervention by creatures
of unknown motives. Even on our own earth, species do not interbreed,
and the rare exception such as the mule and the so-called "liger"
are invariably sterile.10 Each human being should have the right to choose whether or not they will interact with "alien" beings, and to know fully what interaction might mean to them.

With our present dismal knowledge regarding UFO entities - if
indeed they are part of the "real" world and not products
of the witnesses' minds - at present we do not seem able to communicate
meaningfully with them. "Communications" have, to date,
seemed personally satisfactory for some witnesses but for
others have been filled with meaningless phrases, untruths, and
contradictions. The techniques described above might put an end
to the garbage they are handing out. The art of fending them off
should be perfected, so that we can preserve our own integrity
as human beings - a distinct creation - until the situation changes
to our advantage.

Some researchers hypothesize that interaction with "UFO
entities", including suspected genetic experimentation, will
bring about continued evolution of the human race. This might
well be so. However I contend that human evolution should forge
ahead on our own volition, not as the result of "merging"
or "interbreeding" with questionable creatures. When
we have learned to fend them off, say "no", and demand
communication on our own terms, will that not be the start of
real communication and knowledge? Will our own evolvement
consist of developing our minds and psyches to communicate meaningfully with other intelligent species different from ourselves? At the very best, learning to say "no" to intrusion might start
significant communication with them. At the very worst, it would
rid our species of unwanted trespasss, even though this might
still leave behind an unsolved puzzle.

(10) An alleged exception to this rule, involving a pregnant mule,
which was given much attention recently in the media, remains
controversial.

Bravo, Ann Druffel! Although I am, regrettably, not by any means
convinced yet, on the evidence adduced by her here and in her
book, that these particular ladies were indeed entirely successful
in warding off the attention of what may have been unpleasant
aliens, the crucial question now raised - and for the very first
time - by Ann is of supreme importance, inasmuch as the whole
future of mankind may now be threatened. Ann Druffel is therefore
to be praised for her courage in opening up the debate with such
an article. And it is to be hoped that when the updated new edition
of the Tujunga Canyon Contacts appears, many of FSR's readers
will study it. (I think I am right in mentioning that some - or
possibly all - of the ladies involved in the Tujunga story may
have been individuals whose way of life was not the "usual"
one. And it does not appear that any of them became "temporary
surrogate mothers". But, lacking the full picture, we cannot
speculate, as to what details are relevant. For example, it might
well turn out in the end that it was the ladies' particular life-style
and proclivities that had attracted the attention of the alien
visitors in the first place - either because they were puzzled
or displeased by that life style, or maybe even because were looking
to see if there were ways of changing it?)